Some Essex residents return home after gas line leak

Essex, Md. (Map, News) - Jeannie Aly stood on the sidewalk and eyed the damaged apartment building — with its collapsed wall and exposed pipes — and the Baltimore Gas & Electric workers hovering around.

“He didn’t even get out and get his bumper,” Aly said of the sport-utility vehicle driver who, according to police, plowed into a building in her Essex neighborhood Sunday afternoon and severed a gas line before careening away. Aly was let back in to her home down the block within hours of the accident, but some residents of the damaged building were still out of a home Monday afternoon as BGE workers finished repairs.

A Red Cross official said no one needed help finding a place to stay following the evacuation of the three buildings, in the 1400 block of Hadwick Drive.

Police identified Paul Long, 39, as the man they arrested several blocks from the scene, tending a flat tire on the 2003 Chevrolet Trailblazer. He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, driving without a license and driving recklessly at a high speed, Baltimore County police spokesman Bill Toohey said.

Long apparently lost control of the SUV at about 2 p.m., crashed into a taxicab before hitting the building and knocking into another car as he backed out, Toohey said.

Aly said she heard the sounds of the crash and saw the severed bumper, with the license plate, by the building after the SUV pulled away.

Evacuated residents gathered by a tree, she said, pointing past a parking lot, as firefighters descended on the block and the smell of leaking gas spread. Eventually Aly took her children to Friendly’s, where she works, and passed the hours there.

Workers were in the process of restoring gas service to the three affected buildings Monday and expected to have it completed soon, a BGE official said.

kcullinan@baltimoreexaminer.com

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